Reforming the banking sector

Abstract

The committee on financial sector reforms highlights several concerns on the Indian banking sector - about financial deepening, inadequate competition, lack of scale, high spreads banking, the low usage of new technologies, the decline in market share of public sector banks, etc. These concerns are either valid only up to a point or are misplaced when viewed against the totality of the Indian banking situation. Concern is also expressed about social obligations, delinking the government from banks and greater freedom to private banks - these too are not valid concerns. Indian banking is in a reasonably healthy state and is evolving in the right direction. It needs incremental, not sweeping, changes.